Leerink’sRichard Newitter and Ravi Misra hosted a meeting with a surgeon who uses Intuitive Surgical’s daVinci for surgery to find out:

New Xi Platform Offers Nice Improvements, But Not Necessarily “Must-Have,” at least not in this specialist’s view. He highlighted improved 3D visualization and multi-quadrant surgery as good advances of Intuitive Surgical’s latest platform, but did not seem to think the clinical/marketing benefits of these upgrades were enough to convince him or other colorectal/gen surgeons at his institution to lobby for a replacement of their existing Si (which is 3 years old), even with the current system near 80% capacity. For colorectal surgeons the promise of multi-quadrant surgery could be more enticing. But the specialist still has doubts as to whether these features–without more meaningful cost-benefit substantiation–will be enough to prompt an upgrade cycle of the Si installed base more broadly.

As a result, Newitter and Misra cut their price target on Intuitive Surgical to $415, from $43 and maintained their Market Perform rating.

Shares of Intuitive Surgical have gained 1.5% to $370.93 at 11:57 a.m.

Add a Comment

We welcome thoughtful comments from readers. Please comply with our guidelines. Our blogs do not require the use of your real name.

Comment

There are 6 comments

MAY 14, 2014 1:24 P.M.

David wrote:

Based on one surgeon's comment? Where did they get these reporters form? An out of business McDonalds?

MAY 14, 2014 6:36 P.M.

Ralph Petrillo wrote:

Wow have to say the reporter needs to talk to more surgeons. For he seemed to like it but then stated he would wait to order. However seven other surgeons stated they were going to order it. Why not talk to 100 surgeons to get a real feel.

MAY 15, 2014 3:44 A.M.

ntlslp wrote:

"a surgeon". Sheesh. My uncle is a surgeon who operates on toes in Argentina. Maybe they can interview him next?

MAY 15, 2014 10:28 A.M.

Jonathan Briggins wrote:

Can we have the name of the surgeon? I want to make sure none of my relatives go to him. From what I read, the robot offers 2" extended length for colorectal surgery. Hmmm. is he being a crybaby cause he is losing business to other surgeons?

MAY 15, 2014 10:30 A.M.

Tamone Richards wrote:

What is Leerink? They seemed to have hired goons to downplay the stock. Any reporter who uses one surgeon to let a company change their stock proce rating must be questioned? Seems like market manipulation here? Class-action lawsuit anyone?

MAY 16, 2014 2:36 A.M.

Arthur wrote:

Oh, the story is run by Barron's, no wonder. They think great of themselves, when the word on the street remarks them as reporters with the IQ of preschoolers.

About Stocks To Watch

Earnings reports, corporate strategies and analyst insights are all part of what moves stocks, and they’re all covered by the Stocks to Watch blog. We also look at macro issues, investor sentiments and hidden trends that are affecting the market. Stocks to Watch gives you the full picture of the U.S. stock markets, all day long.

The blog is written by Ben Levisohn, a former stock trader who has covered financial markets for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and BusinessWeek.